Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00:00They say, the harder the work, the greater the reward.
00:00:18This is our life's work.
00:00:21Good morning, it is 923, Wednesday, June 8th.
00:00:27This is the TDN Writer's Room presented by Keeneland.
00:00:30My name is Joe Bianca.
00:00:31I'm the Associate Editor of the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:33I want to extend congratulations to our friend, John Green, who is now a member of the Breeders'
00:00:38Cup Board of Directors, and he was so excited, he took an entire week off to celebrate.
00:00:43John, I don't know where you are.
00:00:45Good morning.
00:00:46I'm Bill Finley, a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:49Later on in the show, we're going to unveil this week's Remy cartoon, and spoiler alert,
00:00:53it's a caricature of the three of us on the show.
00:00:56I have a major bone to pick with Mr. Blanc.
00:00:59He's got me wearing a Patriots shirt.
00:01:01I hate the Patriots.
00:01:02Remy, it's the Red Sox, pal.
00:01:03Come on.
00:01:04How can you miss that?
00:01:05I mean, just, no.
00:01:06Patriots.
00:01:07Tom Brady.
00:01:08Bill, no.
00:01:09Go away.
00:01:10Bill Palachuk.
00:01:11No good.
00:01:12How did I never know that about you, that you hate the Patriots?
00:01:14I can't stand them.
00:01:15I can't stand them.
00:01:16Who do you root for in football?
00:01:17Anybody?
00:01:18Whoever the Patriots are playing.
00:01:19Oh, okay.
00:01:20Wow.
00:01:21So Bill and I have more in common than I thought.
00:01:22Okay.
00:01:23I'd love to hear it.
00:01:24The TDI Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:01:26Make plans to attend the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, beginning Monday, September
00:01:3012th.
00:01:31You can learn more at theworldyearlingsale.com.
00:01:35So we're three days away from the blockbuster Belmont Stakes cards, one of the best cards
00:01:39of the year.
00:01:40Usually, we talk to Terry Finley from West Point, obviously about Flightline, and I think
00:01:45Flightline is going to be a headline attraction on Saturday.
00:01:48The Belmont Stakes, obviously, is the Belmont, but with no triple crown on the line, even
00:01:51with Rich Strike running in the race, I think Flightline is the major, major attraction
00:01:56of the day.
00:01:57Overall, we have eight grade ones and a grade two, so nine graded stakes overall.
00:02:02And Bill, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but again, we got a lot of short fields.
00:02:07We got five horses in the Acorn.
00:02:09We got five horses in the Just a Game.
00:02:11We have six horses in the Woody Stevens, in the Ogden Phipps.
00:02:16We have five horses.
00:02:18I mean, it starts to get a little better as the card goes on.
00:02:21The Jiper has 13.
00:02:22The Met has five.
00:02:23You know, you'd expect it to be a short field with Flightline in there.
00:02:28The Manhattan has 10, and then the Belmont has eight.
00:02:30Overall, I think it's a quality over quantity card.
00:02:34You're going to get to see a lot of stars, and we'll talk about them.
00:02:37But again, man, why can't these races fill?
00:02:39Yeah, no, I mean, you're not being a Debbie Downer because you have to talk about this.
00:02:43It's a major story, Joe.
00:02:45And you know, in some way, shape, and form, it's kind of the story of the day, you know,
00:02:51it's not the story of the day, but it's one of the stories of the day overshadowing other
00:02:55things.
00:02:56And, you know, but it's a little bit of, you know, the good and the bad.
00:03:01The good is that there are some spectacular horses running on this card.
00:03:06I mean, Jack Christopher, Flightline, Speakers, and this is not even talking about the Belmont
00:03:11State, Jackie's Warrior, Latruska.
00:03:13I mean, champions up and down the card, races that, you know, you get excited about because
00:03:19you want to see stars.
00:03:20But from a standpoint of a betting, it's, you know, how do you get excited about betting
00:03:25some of these races with five horses, six horses, etc.?
00:03:28And even the Belmont Stakes only has eight horses in it.
00:03:31You know, you know, this is such, it was supposed to be such a wide open year.
00:03:35I'm surprised there's not more.
00:03:37You know, we talked, I asked Randy Moss when he was our Green Group guest of the week last
00:03:40week, you know, what do we do about this problem?
00:03:42And his answer was the same of all of us.
00:03:45Just shrug the shoulders.
00:03:46I don't know.
00:03:47You know, there's too much racing out there.
00:03:49There's too many stakes races out there.
00:03:50But can you expect a Naira to say, well, you know, we're not going to run the Met Mile
00:03:54this year or we're going to get rid of it because it doesn't attract a lot of horses
00:03:58or the Ogden Phipps.
00:03:59It's just not going to happen.
00:04:01So, you know, I guess we just got to grit our teeth and put up with it.
00:04:05But it'll be interesting to see how this affects the handle.
00:04:07And I don't remember exactly what the card was like last year or how many, what the average
00:04:12field size is.
00:04:13But you know, you have a Belmont, again, that's not going to really resonate much with the
00:04:18masses.
00:04:19It's going to, you know, the racing people are going to be into it.
00:04:22So you're not going to get a lot of like, you know, money from people that bet three,
00:04:26four times a year.
00:04:27I don't think you're going to get a lot.
00:04:28You know, will the handle be affected by this?
00:04:31It probably will.
00:04:32So, again, I don't want to go all negative here, just like you said, you don't want to
00:04:35be a Debbie Downer because, as I said before, I mean, you know, this is must see racing
00:04:41coverage because of the stars that I'm talking about.
00:04:44But in some respects, an interesting Belmont, not a scintillating Belmont, but an interesting
00:04:48Belmont.
00:04:49But, you know, at some point in time, can we get everybody in the same room and just
00:04:53trying to figure out, is there a better way to do this?
00:04:57And I don't know.
00:04:58I'm not smart enough to know what the answer is, but it's one of the stories of the day,
00:05:02no doubt about it.
00:05:03Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:04And, you know, it's just one of those cards, those typical cards that you get sometimes
00:05:08where, you know, from a fan's perspective, I cannot wait.
00:05:11It's just there's so many horses that I want to see that are appointment viewing for me.
00:05:15But from a betting perspective, it is very, very hard to get excited about this card.
00:05:19The only thing maybe is like maybe the late pick four or something is like I mentioned,
00:05:23the Jiper has 13 horses in it.
00:05:25And you got a couple of other like semi big fields, you know, like 10 in the Manhattan,
00:05:29like I said.
00:05:30But yeah, like star studded does not even begin to describe this card.
00:05:34It's like, you know, we got Echo Zulu and the Acorn and the just the game.
00:05:38We got five horses.
00:05:39Matt has three of them, but Regal Glory and Speak of the Devil, who I, you know, raved
00:05:42about in the Distaff Turf Mile.
00:05:45She's going to be in there.
00:05:46The Woody Stevens, obviously Jack Christopher is the main attraction, but you've also got
00:05:51Morello coming back was the Gotham winner and he missed the Derby after a pretty poor
00:05:56start in the in the Wood Memorial.
00:05:58So he's in there as well as well as Witt.
00:06:00So that's exciting.
00:06:01Obviously, the Ogden Phipps, you know, Latruska, Latruska is always important to watch and
00:06:07it's always, you know, always puts on a show, you know, not not a ton of competition in
00:06:11there.
00:06:12I guess Malathot, you know, if she gets the excited, you know, coming off that very workmanlike
00:06:17win in the Double Dog there.
00:06:18I don't think she's going to be any match for Malathot.
00:06:20And of course, in the Met Mile, Flightline, it's just every time I see Flightline's past
00:06:25performances, I have to do a double take because you just don't see horses run a 105 or 114,
00:06:31118 by or winning by double digits each time.
00:06:34So he's obviously a super exciting horse.
00:06:36But this is not a this is not a walkover for him.
00:06:38And Terry Finley, you know, talked about it when we asked him, Speaker's Corner is a real
00:06:43horse.
00:06:44You know, he got a 114 by or in the Carter last time out.
00:06:47He's won three in a row.
00:06:48He to me is is on the ascent.
00:06:50Also, you do have Aloha Weston there, who didn't win the Breeders' Cup Sprint last year,
00:06:55but he's just on paper way too slow for those two horses.
00:06:58So it sets up as a pretty decent match race for Flightline and Speaker's Corner.
00:07:01It's been interesting to see how the race is written because those two are the two
00:07:06inside posts and the two main speeds.
00:07:08So it's going to be interesting to see, you know, if Junior lays off of Flavian on Speaker's
00:07:13Corner, if Flavian just sends Flightline to the front and says, you know, come get me
00:07:17if you can.
00:07:19It's going to be that's going to be a really interesting riders race to see how those two
00:07:22guys kind of jockey for position in the early going, you know, and then in the Belmont,
00:07:27I have said for a while now that I think we the people is a likely winner of this race.
00:07:32I, you know, maybe if you like creative cause, he's kind of a forward moving call.
00:07:37I, you know, I could see a case for him.
00:07:39I don't like Rich Strike.
00:07:40I don't know.
00:07:41Bill did a story yesterday that he was on the vets list.
00:07:43You know, they supposedly had a very, you know, benign explanation for it, but it's
00:07:48just not something you want to see going into a big race.
00:07:51You know, I think also that we the people is the controlling speed who drew the rail.
00:07:55So that takes, I think, all of the, you know, all of the decision making out of it for Flavian
00:08:00Pratt.
00:08:01I think it makes all the sense in the world now just to go to the front.
00:08:03And then, of course, we get the Philly in the race nest and we talked to Mike Rapoli
00:08:07a couple of weeks ago when he was considering it and she ran second in the Oaks.
00:08:12She's too slow on paper, but if she truly does want to go a mile and a half and they
00:08:16think that she's going to get better at that distance, why not take a shot instead of just
00:08:19running her against Echo Zoo at a mile in the acorn, which is really not up her alley.
00:08:25Any other thoughts on the Belmont specifically, Bill?
00:08:27Yeah, first of all, I got to correct myself.
00:08:28I said Jackie's warrior was part of the car.
00:08:30He's not. He's racing on Friday.
00:08:31But two things.
00:08:33Let's take one race at a time.
00:08:34And, you know, it's interesting because guys like us and John, you, me and John, the
00:08:39we're going to be zeroed in on the Met Mile.
00:08:42I mean, I don't care what happens in the Belmont States that, you know, we the people
00:08:47runs off the screen and wins by 10 lengths.
00:08:49It's not going to be as impactful or interesting as what happens in the Met Mile,
00:08:54because here we have a horse that, you know, looks like he in fight line, looks like he
00:08:59might be one of the fastest horses we've seen in our lifetime.
00:09:03But he still has to prove it in a race like this.
00:09:06And this is a litmus test for him.
00:09:07I mean, I know he won the grade one Malibu, but, you know, this is a litmus test for him
00:09:11and going against a horse like Speaker's Corner, you know, maybe he'll get beat, maybe
00:09:15he'll win by a half length.
00:09:17But what if he just thrashes this field and goes off and wins by seven, eight lengths
00:09:22and gets a 120 buyer, all of which is completely within the realm of possibility?
00:09:28I mean, come Sunday morning, that's all Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, John Green and, you
00:09:34know, the the real insiders are going to be thinking about.
00:09:37But, you know, it's still Belmont Day and the more casual racing fan is going to zero
00:09:41in on the Belmont. And Joe, I'm with you.
00:09:43I mean, the peepies came out last night and I'm not going to make my pick now, but we
00:09:48the people, not only is he a good horse in here on the rise for Rudolph Brissett coming
00:09:54off a big win in the Peter Pan, but could he be six, seven lengths in front after a
00:09:59half mile? I mean, that sounds like at first blush, like not that'll never happen.
00:10:04But he's that fast and there's no one that could looks like that they can even come
00:10:10close to keeping up with him early.
00:10:11It'll be interesting to see how he's written.
00:10:13Will they will they go to the front and try to go in like 48 and open up by 10?
00:10:18Or will they try to get to the front in a length and a half and go at 50, something
00:10:22like that? I'm not sure that the former isn't the better strategy.
00:10:25Just take it to him out of the gate, dare them to come catch me and just run off the
00:10:31screen. I mean, Rick Strike is an easy horse to dislike.
00:10:35I mean, there is the Cinderella story and all that, but he did win the Kentucky Derby
00:10:39largely because of a pace meltdown.
00:10:42And that's not going to happen here.
00:10:44You're not going to get me, the people and someone else going 45 in the first half
00:10:49mile here. So, you know, he's obviously he's better than we thought he was going into
00:10:53the Derby. But, you know, he doesn't look like a horse that you really would expect
00:10:58to win this race. Modonogol, Ines, Todd Pletcher, I mean, he's very good at this.
00:11:03You know, bring these horses into the Belmont off the five weeks rest in between their
00:11:07two starts. It would be neat to see the Philly win.
00:11:10You know, it's I'm not going to knock the Belmont, but I'm not going to say at the same
00:11:14time, oh, boy, what an exciting great Belmont it is.
00:11:17Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't have quite the cachet last year.
00:11:19We got a central quality and hot rod Charlie in there and horses that you really felt
00:11:23were kind of at the top of the three year old division at the time.
00:11:26You know, obviously, Rick Strike has the Derby win under his belt, but he's got nothing
00:11:29else on his resume. You know, I don't want I don't want to trash him too much because
00:11:32as you'll see in the cartoon later, we might have to have Rick Strike on the show if we
00:11:37doubt him again. He wins the Belmont.
00:11:39But yeah, you know, it's interesting.
00:11:40I never I haven't really seen this in a while in the Belmont.
00:11:44You have the horses who are 17th, 18th, 17th or 18th in Rick Strike's case, 19th in
00:11:50Moe Donegal's case, and then Barbara Road, 20th or 19th in the first calls of the Derby.
00:11:56So you have all of the deep closers from the Derby.
00:11:59And it just it just sets up for the people.
00:12:01It might be one of those things where it seems too obvious.
00:12:03And then he doesn't win because he does really only have that one big race in the
00:12:06Peter Pan. He's probably going to be a short price.
00:12:08But I definitely would not suggest betting him at seven to five or eight to five or
00:12:12whatever he's going to be.
00:12:13But, you know, he just he looks like he can't lose on paper unless someone, you know,
00:12:18like Skippy Longstocking or somebody unexpectedly goes with him early.
00:12:22And then then who knows?
00:12:24Then, you know, you could take any of three or four horses.
00:12:26Like I said, creative ministers, a little bit interesting, you know, lightly raced.
00:12:31Like I said, the other thing about this bill is, you know, I think it kind of throws a
00:12:35wrench into like what Randy Moss and people were, you know, in favor of elongating the
00:12:40Triple Crown, say we only had three horses run in the Preakness after running in the
00:12:45Derby and we still only got eight horses in the Belmont.
00:12:48So I just I don't buy this idea that just because you give the trainers more space,
00:12:53they're more likely to show up in the Triple Crown races because it's not as if half
00:12:57the field ran the Preakness is now too tired to run in the Belmont.
00:13:00We only had a couple of horses running the Preakness after the Derby and still we only
00:13:04got eight horses. Like I think that that makes the case that no matter no matter how
00:13:08much you space these races, trainers are going to find a way to duck and find an easier
00:13:12spot. Yeah, you're absolutely right about that.
00:13:14And kind of a forgotten horse.
00:13:16But I think he's a good example of what we've been talking about.
00:13:18People on our side look at Zandon.
00:13:20He would be the favorite in this race.
00:13:22He would be the favorite in Belmont Stakes, one of the most illustrious races on the
00:13:27counter. One point five million dollar purse.
00:13:29It's five weeks after he last ran five weeks.
00:13:32And that wasn't enough time for Chad Brown to bring him back, you know, and again, like
00:13:36we said, and I don't want to continue, you know, we need to move on from this.
00:13:39But, you know, like I said, the whole idea that people are saying about four weeks in
00:13:43between the races is not not going to work.
00:13:45It's not going to make it any better.
00:13:47If horses come back in the Preakness and they won't come back in the Belmont, you know,
00:13:51are we really going to have eight weeks between all these races?
00:13:53Of course not. We can't. So, you know, there's there's something that can't be fixed.
00:13:57But I just think Zandon is a perfect example of the way.
00:14:01And it gets worse every single year.
00:14:03I mean, you know, 10 years ago, Chad Brown never would have dreamt, I don't think, of
00:14:09keeping Zandon out of the Belmont.
00:14:10But now five weeks, not nearly enough time.
00:14:13We'll see in the summer. We'll see at the Traverse or whatever like that.
00:14:16And that's it's not good for the game.
00:14:17But it is the way that it is.
00:14:19Right. It's becoming the standard.
00:14:20And that's why we have these five and six horse fields and all these great stakes.
00:14:24But we'll end it on a positive note.
00:14:26Eight grade ones. It's hard to be too negative about a card with that many big time
00:14:30stakes and big time horses running in it.
00:14:31So, of course, we're looking forward to it, even if we're complaining about the short
00:14:35fields. I think both things can be true.
00:14:37You can be a little depressed about how many short fields we see in these big races.
00:14:42But also you can be excited to see the horses that are going to be out there on
00:14:44Saturday. And I'll be out there on Saturday, probably get there for the first grade one.
00:14:48And I might actually leave after the Met just to beat the traffic home because, you
00:14:53know, the Manhattan doesn't get me going and the Belmont this year.
00:14:58It's a pretty it's a it's a nice enough race, but it's like it's such a mad dash to get
00:15:01out of there after the Belmont. I might I might dip after the Met mile.
00:15:04So if you're out there and you want to, you know, meet up and grab a drink or something,
00:15:07just hit me in my DM. So looking forward to seeing some people out there at Belmont
00:15:12Saturday. It looks like the weather's going to cooperate and it'll be, you know, even
00:15:15if it's not a great betting day, it'll be a great day of racing for fans.
00:15:18And we're looking forward to seeing a lot of those horses.
00:15:21The TDN Riders Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:15:23Seven of the eight horses in this weekend's Belmont are alumni of the Keeneland sales,
00:15:27including morning line favorite We the People, cost $220,000 at Keeneland September, as
00:15:32well as second choice Moe Donegal, a $250,000 September grad.
00:15:36Nine of the past 16 Belmont winners have come from Keeneland sales.
00:15:39And the first feature from our new Breeder Spotlight series, which is presented in
00:15:43partnership with Keeneland, Chris McGrath highlights Wayne Lister's Ashby Farm, who
00:15:47is the co-breeder of Belmont contenders Moe Donegal and Ness.
00:15:51So that's a pretty big accomplishment to be on the breeding line for two Belmont
00:15:54contenders. The two three-year-olds actually sold on the same day at the 2020 Keeneland
00:15:58September sale. And in the article, Wayne talks about how their horses are raised naturally,
00:16:02even down to the hay they eat that's grown there on the farm.
00:16:05Really, really interesting read.
00:16:06Chris is obviously a great rider.
00:16:08You can check it out on our website.
00:16:09It's called Belmont Pair, our latest A-Lister.
00:16:12So definitely go check that out.
00:16:14We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:16:24Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Keeneland September Yearly Sale.
00:16:31A terrific maternal pedigree, grade one winners and champions across the base.
00:16:36Echoes of parties. Life is good. Let's go superstars.
00:16:42Go to the back. Good luck.
00:16:47He was just put together like a machine and he had a great mind.
00:16:50Everything about him was what you'd want.
00:16:52Tis the law. Pops the cork and the champagne.
00:16:55Tis the law is going to win the first leg of the Triple Crown.
00:16:59I've never seen him get tired.
00:17:01Respect the law. Tis the law.
00:17:03His structure is just perfect. His bone is perfect.
00:17:07He's left the others behind. He's going to win the Run Happy Traverse.
00:17:11He's everything you would look for in a horse.
00:17:17The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:17:19Ashford Syrett Munnings took the lead on the general Syrett's list by stakes winners this
00:17:23weekend when his son Nimitz Class won the Danzig Stakes.
00:17:27Munnings now has 11 stakes winners this year and 17 stakes performers.
00:17:31Another proven successful Syrett Ashford.
00:17:33A little horse by the name of Uncle Mo will be represented by Mo Donegal in this week's Belmont.
00:17:37And I also noticed in terms of his intake, in terms of his crop, Cupid is now top five.
00:17:44And I've seen him climb up those rankings,
00:17:46but he's top five in terms of graded stakes horses, I believe.
00:17:50And that's the crop with Gunrunner in it.
00:17:54So he's definitely climbing up that list and still a huge bargain over there at Coolmore.
00:17:59Don't need prompting to plug my boy Cupid.
00:18:02So definitely go check him out at a very, very reasonable price.
00:18:06Obviously, all of the bigger price horses at Coolmore are definitely worth visiting as well.
00:18:11So we'd like to welcome in a very special guest right now,
00:18:14all the way from Ocala, Florida, taking a break from buying horses.
00:18:18New Breeders' Cup Board of Directors member, John Green.
00:18:21Welcome, John.
00:18:22Congratulations.
00:18:24Why, thank you, Joe Bianca and Bill Finley.
00:18:26It's wonderful to be able to see you and not be sweating down here.
00:18:30So we want to talk about this a little bit because, you know,
00:18:33we're less than a month away from the implementation date of PISA, which is July 1st.
00:18:38Obviously, the drug and medication policy stuff has to wait a little bit longer,
00:18:42but everybody's got to get registered.
00:18:44Every owner, trainer, backstretch worker, jockey,
00:18:47anybody who works with horses has to be registered with PISA by July 1st.
00:18:52Otherwise, it's been reported that there could possibly be scratches as a result if you're not
00:18:57registered.
00:18:57So that's been a big scramble for a lot of people to try to get registered.
00:19:01And there have been some hiccups or some issues and some questions.
00:19:05And TDN has done a really good job.
00:19:07Actually, Dan Ross has done a really good column the last week or so,
00:19:11PISA questions and answers.
00:19:12People will send in questions and he'll get the answers for them.
00:19:15So if you want to know more than just this little segment we'll provide,
00:19:19I would definitely suggest reading Dan's columns.
00:19:21But I thought it would be good to have John on since he is an owner,
00:19:24since he's the only one out of the three of us who has to register for PISA
00:19:28and to have him talk a little bit about his experience.
00:19:32John, what was it like?
00:19:33Was it hard?
00:19:33Was there any kind of difficulties?
00:19:36What was it like to sign up?
00:19:38Yeah, guys, you know, I'm actually happy to report that
00:19:41registering on the PISA website was actually easier than I thought.
00:19:45And I am certainly not a, you know, a mental giant.
00:19:49So it was good that it was pretty straightforward.
00:19:53Really, all you need is your name, your date of birth, and an active license.
00:20:01For me, it would be an active owner's license.
00:20:03And it doesn't matter what state it is, as long as it's one of the United States.
00:20:08Canadian licenses don't work.
00:20:11So that's first and foremost.
00:20:12So if you're going to choose one of your licenses to put the information in, don't choose Canada.
00:20:18So I use my New York license.
00:20:21I put in, you know, the basic information, my name, address, and contact number.
00:20:26And then I uploaded my license as an owner, my NIRA license.
00:20:33And within 10 seconds, all of my information uploaded immediately.
00:20:38It was, I just double checked it to make sure it was correct.
00:20:40And then really the hardest thing was, and I think they've fixed this now.
00:20:45The hardest thing was, once I hit confirm and sent it,
00:20:48you're supposed to get a confirmation number back.
00:20:51And then once you get that confirmation number, you re-input it.
00:20:55And that way, they know that you're confirmed and you're registered.
00:21:00At the time, they were having issues with it.
00:21:01And I think since that moment, they've gotten rid of the double confirmation.
00:21:07So I did end up getting an email about, you know, maybe later on in the day
00:21:12saying that I was confirmed.
00:21:13They gave me a confirmation number.
00:21:15And I logged in again last night just to reconfirm that I was on there.
00:21:20And thankfully, I am.
00:21:21And it looks like it's very straightforward.
00:21:23Well, that's good news.
00:21:25Frankly, since USADA bailed out and there's no USADA involved with the
00:21:28Horse Racing Integrity Safety Act, I don't care.
00:21:31That's all I have to say.
00:21:32Jesus, Bill.
00:21:35Why who cares?
00:21:36Yeah, I mean, listen, but it's something that's going to be a part of
00:21:40horseman's lives for the next however long.
00:21:44John, there was a question like that.
00:21:45A lot of people had some questions about whether or not certain people in the barn
00:21:50were quote unquote covered persons and like who had to register and who doesn't.
00:21:55I don't know.
00:21:55You talk to Mark Cassie a lot.
00:21:57Has the trainer side of it been a little bit more complicated?
00:22:01Yeah, and I've spoken to a couple of trainers about it as well.
00:22:05And really, the onus, the burden of registering the horses is actually
00:22:12wherever they're domiciled.
00:22:13So if our horses are with Mark Cassie, Mark actually has to go ahead and register
00:22:20all those horses that are under his care.
00:22:23For horses of ours that are with other trainers, obviously, they're the ones that
00:22:27are going to be have the burden of doing.
00:22:29And I say burden.
00:22:31My understanding is that it's even quicker to register a horse than it is to register
00:22:35an individual.
00:22:37One of the things that I think will help the audience a little bit is there's a whole
00:22:42section with regard to registering horses.
00:22:44There's a whole section of veterinary questions.
00:22:48And when was the most recent Coggins done and things like that.
00:22:51And my understanding is that as of as of this moment, Haiza is not requiring the
00:22:57veterinary information or the Coggins dates or anything like that.
00:23:01In order to register the horses.
00:23:02So they're trying to expedite the process.
00:23:05So that way, by July 1st, when you enter horses, that the entries will be accepted.
00:23:11And again, technically, you actually have to have your horses registered a week before
00:23:17July 1st because you have to enter them.
00:23:19And as we know, the entry process is usually three to five days in advance.
00:23:23So for trainers out there, you want to make sure that you have those horses registered
00:23:28as soon as possible.
00:23:29And if you have horses that are on training tracks, then you have to talk to the manager
00:23:35of the training facility.
00:23:36If it's a licensed facility, then they would have the burden.
00:23:40If it's an unlicensed facility, meaning that the breezes aren't published, the breezes
00:23:45that occur there aren't published, then it's the burden is on the owner.
00:23:49So you just want to make sure that you have all that situated and set up.
00:23:52Obviously, if you have horses on training facilities that aren't going to be running
00:23:56anytime soon, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
00:23:59And then once they hit the racetrack, have that trainer go ahead and register that particular
00:24:05horse for HISA.
00:24:07Gotcha.
00:24:08All right.
00:24:08So if anybody wants to register, I mean, if you're a horseman or if you have any contact
00:24:13with horses regularly, you got to register by July 1st.
00:24:16It's hisaus.org registration.
00:24:19Like I said, I appreciate John coming on.
00:24:21But also, if you have any further questions, there's a good chance that Dan Ross has answered
00:24:26them or at least tried to answer them in the recurring TDN segment.
00:24:29So, John, it's great to have you on.
00:24:32And again, my congratulations on the Breeders' Cup thing.
00:24:34We'll see you next week, buddy.
00:24:37All right, great.
00:24:37Hey, Joe and Bill, before you let me go, I just wanted to say that I am very excited
00:24:43and humbled to be elected onto the board.
00:24:46And I really, truly, genuinely think this, that if it wasn't for the TDN Writers' Room
00:24:51podcast, which provides all of us with a platform to express our feelings and stuff,
00:24:56there's no way that I would even be a consideration.
00:24:58So I want to thank you guys and obviously Patty Wolf, Sue Finley and the rest of the
00:25:03team for propping me up and giving me a platform to be able to say my feelings.
00:25:09And I can't thank you guys enough.
00:25:12And there's a lot of people that I want to thank, but I know we're out of time.
00:25:15So just everyone who supported my candidacy, I really, really appreciate it.
00:25:19And just if you have any questions or anything like that about the Breeders' Cup,
00:25:24please feel free to call me.
00:25:25You have a friend on the board.
00:25:28Just don't become too big for the show now, Joe.
00:25:31I can't promise.
00:25:32I think my rates are going to have to double, maybe even triple, depending on it.
00:25:36But if we have more cartoons drawn on us, that is satisfaction and compensation enough for me.
00:25:43That's the thing.
00:25:44It's a big day for us.
00:25:45Our little John's all grown up on the Breeders' Cup board.
00:25:48And we got caricatured by Remy, which we'll show you later.
00:25:52The TDN Writers' Room was brought to you by Lane's End.
00:25:54This week's Lane's End Stallion of the Week is Twirling Candy.
00:25:57The son of Candy Ride was represented by grade three regret winner Walkathon
00:26:01over the weekend in April.
00:26:02He had the grade two Charlie Whittingham winner Beyond Brilliant.
00:26:05He's a top 15 general active sire in the U.S. and stands at Lane's End for $60,000.
00:26:11Go check him out.
00:26:12Obviously a great family and a horse that really, I think, can get turf, dirt, short, long.
00:26:17Definitely a very versatile sire, as you would expect from a son of Candy Ride.
00:26:20So go check him out.
00:26:21We'll be right back after this message from Lane's End.
00:26:47Six-figure yearling sales honor code stands to continue his sire's legacy at Lane's End.
00:26:55With some of the fullest fields in the country and quality racing year round,
00:27:00there's never been a better time to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky.
00:27:07Purse money in Kentucky is at an all-time high,
00:27:10as is average purse per race outpacing California, Florida and New York.
00:27:15Kentucky breads.
00:27:17Breed them.
00:27:17Raise them.
00:27:19Race them.
00:27:20We all win.
00:27:25The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders.
00:27:28Kentucky breads are having grade one success all around the world.
00:27:31Three-year-old Philly Above the Curb ran her rivals off their feet last Sunday to win the
00:27:35grade, the group one, excuse me, Prix St. Hilaire at Longchamp.
00:27:39This weekend, each of the eight contenders in the Belmont were bred in Kentucky.
00:27:43So 100% success rate coming up for Kentucky breads in the Belmont.
00:27:47You can find your next Kentucky bread this week at the OBS June sale, which John is at.
00:27:51So obviously, those Kentucky breads are going to continue to have success all over the country
00:27:55and all over the world.
00:27:56Yesterday, we talked to West Point CEO Terry Finley about Flightline.
00:28:00Obviously, the most looked forward to horse, I think, in many years.
00:28:04We were talking about how it's kind of like a countdown to a blockbuster movie.
00:28:08It's finally coming out.
00:28:09So obviously, we're very excited for that.
00:28:11And Terry was very excited.
00:28:12So check out our interview with Terry Finley.
00:28:14The Green Group Guest of the Week is sponsored by the Green Group, an accounting, tax, consulting,
00:28:18and advisory firm specializing in the thoroughbred industry.
00:28:21With over 500 clients in the horse business, they have proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:28:26You can learn more about how they can help you at www.greenco.com.
00:28:30So we're thrilled to welcome back to the show the CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds,
00:28:34probably doing his 150th interview this week at this point.
00:28:36Terry Finley, welcome.
00:28:38It's great to be on, you guys.
00:28:40Really good.
00:28:40I can't believe it's finally here.
00:28:42We've been waiting a long time for this.
00:28:44As the weeks kind of rolled by, I was like,
00:28:47when are we ever going to get into the category of days instead of weeks?
00:28:50And now we're here.
00:28:51So we are here.
00:28:52I kind of feel like it's like a big movie release.
00:28:55Like we've been counting down the months to see this movie come out.
00:28:58And now the blockbuster is here.
00:28:59So let's talk about it.
00:29:01You've run a lot of big horses in a lot of big spots.
00:29:03You're an experienced guy in this industry by now.
00:29:06How does this rank?
00:29:07The excitement level going into Saturday for flight line and the mid-mile,
00:29:11how does that rank compared to all the other starters you've had at West Point?
00:29:15Yeah, it's at the very top, Joe.
00:29:17At the very top.
00:29:19I was thinking about our talk today.
00:29:21And one of the things that I think that I know that the partnership has done a very
00:29:27good job of is all of us, we stayed humble.
00:29:31Humble is the word and is the key to this.
00:29:35Because when you think about the race on Saturday, it's not a gimme.
00:29:40I wish it was, but it's not.
00:29:42They don't give a million dollars away for free.
00:29:44And we've got two grade one winners in there, a Breeders' Cup winner.
00:29:48And I think Speaker's Corner, one of the most talented horses that we've seen in a while.
00:29:54So I mean, in terms of emotion and your thinking, I go back and forth.
00:30:02But I know we're going to have to show up in a big way on Saturday.
00:30:06And I think we will.
00:30:07But man, it's going to be a heck of a race.
00:30:11Hey, Terry, thanks for joining us.
00:30:13Do we know how good flight line is?
00:30:16And if not, will we know come Saturday afternoon?
00:30:20No and yes.
00:30:22Okay.
00:30:24Bill, I mean, we've been at it a long time together and we've known each other.
00:30:29So, look, I would love to think that he's a horse that after today and say after his
00:30:37next race, that conjures up the emotion and the memories of other horses that all of us
00:30:45has grown up around and know by their reputation.
00:30:49I certainly hope that he's in that league, but he's got to do it, especially on Saturday.
00:30:54I think this is a really, really big stepping off point for his career.
00:31:00So we think he's a good horse.
00:31:02We really do.
00:31:03We think he's so exciting.
00:31:05It's great for the business, for the industry to get this kind of excitement rolling.
00:31:11But they got to do it on the racetrack.
00:31:13And that's what we keep thinking.
00:31:16I'd say the adrenaline, the anticipation, and I hope that we're in the midst of greatness.
00:31:25I really do.
00:31:27Because I think that would be good in so many different ways for our industry as a whole.
00:31:34For sure.
00:31:35And I always have this question about West Point on big days, because you guys, I think
00:31:39you're a very festive celebratory group.
00:31:42Obviously, you have a lot of partners.
00:31:43What is it like on a big day, on a big Saturday?
00:31:46How many people are you expecting?
00:31:48And do you have room for one more guy who has zero investment capital, but can recite
00:31:53the West Point ad copy in his sleep?
00:31:55I can.
00:31:56You're in.
00:31:57You're in like Flynn, as they say in Ireland, Joe.
00:32:02But we have a lot of people.
00:32:04I mean, you think of it's a really cool partnership.
00:32:07You go, you start with the Heronises, you start with Jane, or you go to Jane Lyon and
00:32:12Summer Wind, you go to West Point team, you go to Woodford, and you go to Sienna Farm,
00:32:18which is Anthony Manganero.
00:32:22And you think about the fact that he's going to have a two to five or three to five shot
00:32:26in the Met Mile, and then right backed up, he's going to have the favorite in the Belmont
00:32:32Stakes.
00:32:32So I love to talk about him because I think he's one of the most interesting guys in our
00:32:37business.
00:32:38And he's just a guy who gives and gives and gives.
00:32:42But you put all those partners together and there'll be several hundred people there.
00:32:50And I hope this Colt and the Sadler team, I hope they give us all a chance to rejoice
00:32:59and to really savor in a respectful way, the greatness that we hope we see on Saturday.
00:33:05Hey, Terry, I understand that this is a business.
00:33:08And at the end of the day, you're trying to make money and also for your partners.
00:33:12I also understand that the game has changed a lot over the years.
00:33:15I also understand that Flightline has had a couple of hiccups along the way.
00:33:19But I am guessing, and correct me if I'm wrong, that he's probably going to have six career
00:33:23starts.
00:33:24The Met Mile will be his fourth.
00:33:25Then we'll look at one race in between the Met Mile and the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:33:29And again, you're a businessman, your partners are businessmen.
00:33:33He's going to be worth, if he wins Saturday, $17 zillion as a stallion.
00:33:39But you're a guy who thinks of the bigger picture about the industry.
00:33:43Should owners feel more of an obligation to run these horses more?
00:33:47Maybe run them as four-year-olds?
00:33:49He is running as a four-year-old, but essentially like his three-year-old year since he was
00:33:53late to get going.
00:33:54It would be such a gift to the industry to see this horse run more often and run next
00:33:59year.
00:33:59You could just explain that dilemma and your feeling about it.
00:34:02Yeah.
00:34:03I think it is a dilemma, Bill.
00:34:05I really do.
00:34:06And I have thought about that because I know when I see other owners and other trainers,
00:34:11and they have really top-end horses, I project, I think about what I would do.
00:34:17And I think now we're in this spot.
00:34:20So listen, I don't dictate because I'm not the majority owner, but I know one thing.
00:34:29There are people that are in this horse that love to run and that are on the racetrack.
00:34:34And I can tell you, this ride has been so thrilling.
00:34:39And the anticipation and just the juice that I think all of us have gotten.
00:34:47If there was ever a situation, I'd like to think that you're talking about 2023.
00:34:53I mean, we haven't really talked about it in a formal way.
00:34:56But man, would that be good for the industry if we continued on?
00:35:02Yes, it would be.
00:35:03And I'll leave it at that.
00:35:07I can't talk for the whole partnership, but man, we're a racing partnership.
00:35:11And we have one of the best horses that has come along in a long time.
00:35:16So I'll let you figure that out.
00:35:18I'll let you work through it.
00:35:19But no decisions have been made to go one way or the other.
00:35:26What's next for Flightline?
00:35:27Assuming he runs well in the Met, is the Whitney up next after that?
00:35:31You know what?
00:35:34I'm not kidding here.
00:35:36I really have not posed that question to anybody in the partnership or to John Sadler.
00:35:43I know he's been thinking about it.
00:35:45And I know, John Sadler, I tell you, you couldn't believe the adulation and the respect that I've
00:35:54gained.
00:35:54I've always loved him.
00:35:56I've always thought he was a great trainer and a great person.
00:35:59But to see him perform over the last 18 months has been just outworldly.
00:36:07And I'm sure he's thinking about it.
00:36:09And I would think that that's probably one of the issues if things turn out on Saturday
00:36:14that we're going to talk about shortly after.
00:36:16But obviously, he's thinking about either Del Mar or Saratoga.
00:36:21And I'll leave it up to him because he's made the right choice step after step after step.
00:36:26So we'll put our trust and our confidence in John and his team to do the right thing
00:36:33by this horse.
00:36:33But I also love the fact that when I see the pride of ownership that John and his team,
00:36:43I think of Juan Leyva and everybody else, all the way down to the Hot Walker and the
00:36:49pride and the way that they swell up when TVG or some of the other outlets are around
00:36:57the barn.
00:36:57It really just warms the heart when you see people that put so much into our game.
00:37:06And now they get a shot to take out that pride.
00:37:10And it's a really cool thing.
00:37:11So I'll leave it at that.
00:37:13Gotcha.
00:37:13I mean, I know John Sadler and the Heronises are California guys, but I got a sneaking
00:37:17suspicion.
00:37:18I'll see y'all at Saratoga if he runs well.
00:37:20All right, Terry, one last question from me.
00:37:22And this is something that's been a hobby horse for us on the show, especially me as
00:37:26a New Yorker, getting the Met Mile back on Memorial Day.
00:37:30We talked about it last week.
00:37:32If there were ever a horse who makes that argument that the Met Mile needs its own
00:37:36day, I think it's Flightline.
00:37:37Because he's a horse that I think is going to be the most popular horse running on Saturday
00:37:41on a star-studded day of action.
00:37:44Shouldn't he be able to have his own day?
00:37:46And shouldn't the Met Mile be on Memorial Day?
00:37:47What do you think?
00:37:49I think if I had to hit the button right now, Joe, I'd say I'm okay with it on a big
00:37:54day.
00:37:54Because think about the electricity, especially if there was a Triple Crown.
00:37:59Obviously, I know there's not a Triple Crown on the line, but that would be electric.
00:38:04And I think back to Honor Code's race, what was that, five or six years ago now?
00:38:10I mean, he was the talking horse.
00:38:11But I just love the electricity of the big days.
00:38:16And I look at the stakes.
00:38:17I look at the horse flesh and the horses that are going to run on Saturday.
00:38:23I know there is a really good case to be made for both.
00:38:26I just love these big days.
00:38:28But that's me.
00:38:29All right.
00:38:30Fair enough.
00:38:31Well, Terry, you mentioned it's going to be a big day on Saturday.
00:38:33And yes, it's going to be a really big day.
00:38:36But nonetheless, it is a Belmont Stakes where the Kentucky Derby winner didn't come back
00:38:40in the Preakness.
00:38:41The Preakness winner does not come back in the Belmont.
00:38:43And matter of fact, not a single horse had run in all three races.
00:38:48West Point was not involved in any of those three races.
00:38:50I don't believe.
00:38:51Please correct me if I'm wrong.
00:38:52But where do you stand on this issue?
00:38:56Do you think it's time to change the Triple Crown?
00:38:58Would you like to see more time between the races and why?
00:39:00Yeah.
00:39:01Well, it depends who you've interviewed a lot of smart people in the TDN.
00:39:06So it really depends on the last person that I read that I respect with their opinion.
00:39:12So that happens in the business.
00:39:15So it does.
00:39:16I mean, I'd like to think I'm honest enough to say it just depends on the day of the week.
00:39:23I go back and forth.
00:39:27But I will say that the business is changing, just like every other industry in this world.
00:39:35So I wouldn't be adamantly opposed to moving and to have some slight shifts.
00:39:44I don't think there should be an overhaul.
00:39:47But there are plenty of other things that we've adjusted in our industry that a lot
00:39:52of people have said, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no.
00:39:54And then it happens and everybody's moved on to the next thing, i.e. trying to win races.
00:39:59So I think one or two minor tweaks, I think, might be positive for the industry overall.
00:40:06But I don't come to our conversation in a very forceful way because I certainly see
00:40:16the people who are passionate about keeping things as they are.
00:40:20Listen, Terry, best of luck this Saturday.
00:40:22You guys deserve it.
00:40:24You guys spent a ton of money.
00:40:25You're great advocates for the game.
00:40:26You deserve a horse like this.
00:40:28And we can't wait to see him.
00:40:29So best of luck this weekend.
00:40:31Yeah, well, I tell you, I've been thinking about that.
00:40:33I'll give you one quick, you know, I know we've given the game a lot and we put our
00:40:38heart and soul and I think about my team and everybody else.
00:40:41But we've got a lot more out of this game than we could ever give.
00:40:46And for that, all of us are very humbled and we're excited.
00:40:51And we're going to do everything we can to try to enjoy the next couple of days as we
00:40:56build up to the Met Mile and Belmont Stakes Day.
00:41:00As you should.
00:41:01Thanks for the time, Terry.
00:41:02Appreciate you.
00:41:03Thanks, Terry.
00:41:03All right, Bill.
00:41:04All right, Joe.
00:41:05Thank you very much.
00:41:07The Green Group Guest of the Week is sponsored by the Green Group, an accounting, tax, consulting
00:41:11and advisory firm specializing in the thoroughbred industry.
00:41:14As this week's Green Group Guest of the Week, Terry Finley will receive a free one-hour
00:41:18tax consultation.
00:41:19Learn more at greenco.com.
00:41:21We'll be right back after this message from the Green Group.
00:41:24Why do the most successful owners, breeders and horsemen select the Green Group as their
00:41:28tax advisor?
00:41:29We simply save them money and know how to make them more successful.
00:41:32Over the past 40 years, founder Leonard Green has owned and bred some of the best racehorses
00:41:36in the history of the sport.
00:41:37His in-depth, hands-on industry knowledge, combined with cutting-edge tax-saving strategies
00:41:42has produced positive results for his clientele and has made the Green Group the top-rated
00:41:46accounting and tax firm in the business.
00:41:47For a confidential and complimentary consultation, contact us at 732-634-5100 or visit our website
00:41:54at www.greenco.com.
00:41:57The Green Group.
00:41:57Proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:42:27The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by XBTV.
00:42:33This week's XBTV Workout of the Week, which you're seeing on the screen right now, features
00:42:37Grade 1 Santa Anita Run Happy, Santa Anita Derby winner Teba, who put in his first work
00:42:43since the Kentucky Derby on Tuesday, going an easy three furlongs in 36-4 in company
00:42:48with a four-year-old Maiden Specialweight winner named Sumo.
00:42:51Teba is a horse that's good to see back on the work tab so quickly because we worked
00:42:55a little bit about kind of them rushing him into the Derby and, you know, what that might
00:43:00mean for him the rest of the year.
00:43:01So it's good to see him back on the work tab as soon as he's going to be appointed
00:43:04for the summer races at Saratoga.
00:43:08So definitely a horse with a ton of talent.
00:43:10And just because he didn't show up in the Derby doesn't necessarily say anything about
00:43:14the rest of his career.
00:43:14So we're looking forward to seeing him next on the racetrack.
00:43:17If you want to check him out, go to XBTV.com.
00:43:19If you want to see Flightline's works, any of the Belmont contenders, they got it all.
00:43:23Just go look in that search bar for any horse that you want to see.
00:43:26It's obviously a big weekend of racing, so a lot of prep work and a lot of stuff to dive
00:43:30into if you're handicapping this Saturday's card at Belmont.
00:43:34So we can't go a week without our Trainers Behaving Badly segment sponsored by Chico's
00:43:38Bail Bonds, as John suggested last week.
00:43:41And we maybe need the bad boys, cops theme over these segments.
00:43:45Trainer Peter Miller, this broke Saturday night.
00:43:48Saturday night, a little bit after nine o'clock, which tells you how much they wanted this
00:43:52news to come out, that that's when it came out.
00:43:54So Peter Miller has been fined $10,000 and suspended a whole seven days by the Santa
00:43:59Anita Park stewards for violating the CHRB's rule against program training.
00:44:06This was a story, obviously, we talked a little bit about it last week, but in the return
00:44:09of Peter Miller, last year around November, he said he was stepping away from racing for
00:44:15six months.
00:44:16He wanted to focus on his individual pursuits and his health and blah, blah, blah.
00:44:21And everybody immediately assumed that it was because he had had five horses break down
00:44:25and die in the past year in California.
00:44:28And that, you know, the CHRB and he had like a kind of a quiet agreement for him just to
00:44:33go away for a little bit.
00:44:34And there wouldn't be like a giant fine or suspension.
00:44:37Turns out he was, according to this, he was program training.
00:44:41He was basically still the trainer for Ruben Alvarado, who was his assistant.
00:44:45The least surprising news in the universe, which everybody assumed was going to happen.
00:44:50And this is the kind of thing I'm not going to go too long because I know Bill has stuff
00:44:53to say about this, too.
00:44:54But it's the kind of thing that we rail about on this show that, you know, it's just a joke.
00:44:59It's just the things that trainers are able to do, you know, even when they're supposedly,
00:45:04you know, on the sidelines.
00:45:06It's just embarrassing that he only gets seven days, seven days and $10,000 for, you know,
00:45:12going away and still training even when he wasn't supposed to be.
00:45:16Come on, man.
00:45:17Go ahead, Bill.
00:45:18Yeah, I mean, I couldn't believe this one.
00:45:20So first the news broke that, you know, that he had been caught red handed doing this.
00:45:24It's not like he appears that he wasn't even really trying to this, you know, to hide what
00:45:30he's doing.
00:45:31He was hiding in plain sight.
00:45:33You know, he was basically, according to the allegations, training the string hands on
00:45:37at San Luis Ray Downs.
00:45:39Now, that's not going to be as visible if he were at Santa Anita.
00:45:41But yes, I mean, there's hundreds of people there.
00:45:44Say, hey, what's Peter Miller doing here?
00:45:45Oh, he's training 45 horses in the barn down here.
00:45:48I saw this happen.
00:45:49I think, you know, this is going to be really bad for him.
00:45:52I'm thinking a year suspension, maybe even more.
00:45:55And then he come out with seven days.
00:45:58What the problem here is, you know, maybe that's what it says on the books for quote
00:46:04unquote program training.
00:46:06But you got to look beyond that here.
00:46:09This was a deception of the betting public.
00:46:12You're betting on these races at Santa Anita.
00:46:15And, you know, you were told by the authorities, by the racetrack, by the California Horse
00:46:19Racing Board, et cetera, that they are trained by Ruben Alvarado when, in fact, they were
00:46:23trained by Peter Miller.
00:46:25Now, that is deceiving the betting public.
00:46:28First of all, it's slimy to use that word, but it's deceiving the betting public, which
00:46:34is just cannot be tolerated here.
00:46:37I mean, I don't have much more to say than they, you know, they whiffed on this big time.
00:46:41And, you know, I cannot believe they didn't give him a more serious suspension.
00:46:46Also, Miller has a history of just just like acting like the rules don't apply to him.
00:46:53And it's not just this.
00:46:54It's many things he just flaunted.
00:46:55Well, can you blame him now?
00:46:57He came up with this whole story that I'm stepping away for six months and my mental
00:47:00health and I want to have more time with my family.
00:47:02And then none of it is true, which we all knew in the first place it wasn't going to
00:47:05be true or we suspect in the first place.
00:47:07So CHRB, boy, I tell you, they they they really didn't handle this well at all.
00:47:15Well, it's the Santa Anita Stewards, I think, who handed down the the actual suspension.
00:47:19And he just he's one of those guys who has he has a history, you know, like that's on
00:47:24top of it, on top of what what a what a disgusting thing this is.
00:47:28And it's something that people in racing are so sick of, you know, this specific thing
00:47:33when trainers get suspended.
00:47:34Now, he wasn't technically suspended.
00:47:35But, you know, a lot of people assume that that was a soft suspension for him when he
00:47:38went away.
00:47:39So let's say for those purposes he was suspended and he's still training horses just in his
00:47:44assistant's name.
00:47:45This is something that's been going on in racing forever and people cannot stand it
00:47:49because even when there's, you know, a nominal punishment for a trainer, there is none because
00:47:55he can still do the same exact things and just put the horses in his assistant's name.
00:48:00And it's like you said, it's deceiving the betting public for sure.
00:48:05But it also is just so unseemly.
00:48:07And it's just it's just points to the problem in racing that there's there's no actual
00:48:11enforcement, even when you can prove maybe not in this case, but even when you can prove
00:48:14that somebody did something wrong, there is no actual enforcement.
00:48:18And, you know, it's interesting because we talked about this last week and about how
00:48:21Aiden Butler, you know, is kind of the new sheriff in town and, you know, throwing guys
00:48:27out of the track.
00:48:27You know, you got Richard Baltus out of here indefinitely.
00:48:30We'll see.
00:48:31We'll see what happens with that.
00:48:32I'm shocked that, you know, a strident group product that presumably Aiden Butler has a
00:48:38lot of say in could only suspend him for seven days for something that should be a cardinal
00:48:43sin for a trainer in racing.
00:48:46You know, this isn't like Bill likes to say this isn't some like small band of mean overage
00:48:51that, you know, doesn't really make a difference here or there.
00:48:53This is a major, major problem for that trainers do this in this country.
00:48:58And this was a chance to make an example out of him.
00:49:01And they could not make less of an example out of him.
00:49:03And it just it just points to the idea that, you know, he's going to be back at Santa Anita.
00:49:08He's not there right now, but he's going to be back there soon.
00:49:10And it's just going to be business as usual.
00:49:12And again, this is a guy who has fines after fines for medication violations and also has
00:49:18an incredibly poor safety record.
00:49:20You know, we were talking all that about Bob Baffert and the Washington Post story about
00:49:24how his sources were breaking down more frequently than the average trainer in California.
00:49:30You know who was the other trainer at the top of that list?
00:49:32Peter Miller.
00:49:33And I think that there was a reason that he went away for six months and then obviously
00:49:37did it.
00:49:38And it's it's because that he's a danger to horses in California more so than most other
00:49:43trainers.
00:49:44And, you know, that's even that's even before getting into his history of drug violations
00:49:48and this scummy practice.
00:49:50What I mean, what more does a guy have to do to show the stewards and show the CHRP that
00:49:55he's a danger to racing in the state?
00:49:58I don't know what else he could do.
00:49:59Well, we talked about the California Horse Racing Board and what they did with Peter
00:50:03Miller on the opposite side of the country.
00:50:05The New York Gaming Commission made more news this week.
00:50:08And the back story is that there was a mess up on a claim of a horse at Belmont, a horse
00:50:13by the name of Battalion, and he was claimed for twenty five thousand dollars and ran very
00:50:17poorly in the race.
00:50:19So the connections were delighted, I believe, that the horse was claimed.
00:50:22But there was a problem getting the information from one part of the racing outfit to the
00:50:29next.
00:50:30And lo and behold, nobody told the person who was responsible for taking the horse to
00:50:34the test barn that he was, in fact, claimed.
00:50:37So they took the horse back instead to his original trainer's barn.
00:50:40Bob Laceris.
00:50:41It was a mess up.
00:50:42It happens then, but they voided the claim, which, again, I don't think they should have
00:50:47done.
00:50:48But to me, the real story is how the New York Gaming Commission, what they did afterwards,
00:50:53and they find Frank Gabriel, who was the vice president of racing operations for Naira,
00:50:58four thousand dollars for this.
00:50:59OK, number one, he had nothing to do with it.
00:51:02Number two, it's not really that big of a deal.
00:51:06Number three, I mean, I'm sure he makes a nice salary and everything, but for a guy
00:51:09that's not probably a millionaire or anything close like that, four thousand dollars is
00:51:13probably going to hurt a little bit.
00:51:14This is the latest thing we've seen from the New York Gaming Commission.
00:51:17It's like they want to be the Vladimir Putin of horse racing.
00:51:22You know, they are out there making these outrageous fines, doing these outrageous things
00:51:27with their led by Braulio Baeza Jr., their steward, who, you know, I from what I can
00:51:32tell, I don't know him.
00:51:33He came around after I stopped going to the races and coming to races every day.
00:51:37But he sure appears to me as somebody that's a little bit power hungry here, maybe not
00:51:40a little bit, a lot power hungry here.
00:51:42And I don't think we talked about it on the show.
00:51:44But remember when they find the clock or twenty five hundred dollars.
00:51:47Richie Gayser, a great guy, has been around forever, again, who didn't do anything
00:51:51wrong.
00:51:51He took a time of a work or distance of workout and change it from five to four because it
00:51:56was this weird rule about the horse had to work for four longs to get into a race and
00:52:00did absolutely nothing wrong.
00:52:02You know, and there's another.
00:52:05So this is the third fine from the Gaming Commission of a Naira employee.
00:52:11Also, the racing secretary was fined two thousand dollars.
00:52:14I mean, if and, you know, what is Frank Gabriel supposed to do about this?
00:52:19If you're going to find him, why don't you find David O'Rourke?
00:52:21He's Gabriel's boss.
00:52:23Where does it start?
00:52:24I mean, why don't you find, you know, whatever.
00:52:27But, you know, look, it's funny because we're talking about racing commissions, you
00:52:31know, being not tough enough, talking about a gaming commission that at least when it
00:52:37comes to this, it's gotten out of control with these fines and what they're doing
00:52:41here.
00:52:42And, you know, I hope these people get good lawyers.
00:52:44I, you know, probably Gabriel's not going to want to fight it because it would get
00:52:47ugly.
00:52:48The Gaming Commission fining one of the two or three most powerful people at the New
00:52:52York Racing Association.
00:52:53So, you know, but something needs to happen here.
00:52:56I mean, this is just getting out of control.
00:52:59And, you know, I feel bad for these Naira people that, you know, if they, you know,
00:53:04if the Gaming Commission doesn't like the way they have their tie tied, I think I'll
00:53:09find them a thousand dollars for that.
00:53:10I mean, it's ridiculous.
00:53:11It sounds this has gotten ridiculous with these guys.
00:53:13Well, it just seemed like something that could have been, you know,
00:53:17hashed out with like the discussion, you know, the voided claim thing and be like, oh, well,
00:53:21he was late to be notified.
00:53:23The claim should, you know, should be voided still.
00:53:26And there was no need for the Gaming Commission, I think, really to get involved at all, much
00:53:31to find someone who wasn't, you know, even really directly responsible for what happened.
00:53:35And you mentioned the thing with the clock or two like that.
00:53:37That made no sense.
00:53:38The rule makes no sense because they have, you know, what Bill's talking about is they
00:53:41have this rule in New York where if a horse has like a poor performance, you know, gets
00:53:46beaten 25 plus lengths or whatever, gets placed on like a poor performance list and then has
00:53:51to work in a certain time to get be able to get back into the entries.
00:53:55And the horse worked like, what was it?
00:53:57Five furlongs and like the key is for whatever reason.
00:54:00Again, it makes no sense.
00:54:01The workout has to be at four for me.
00:54:03Yeah, this horse actually worked five furlongs.
00:54:07Isn't five furlongs a better barometer of a horse's fitness and ability to perform in
00:54:12a race than a four furlong workout?
00:54:14So back to the clock or should he have done it?
00:54:17Probably not.
00:54:18But my goodness, talk about no big deal.
00:54:21And first, number one, change the rule.
00:54:22It's ridiculous.
00:54:23Number two, you know, the guy didn't do anything wrong.
00:54:26And you're going to go after his reputation, spend him for 30 days and find him, you know,
00:54:30twenty five hundred dollars.
00:54:31Come on now.
00:54:33Yeah, well, you know, it's a stupid rule.
00:54:35And like you're saying, it makes no sense.
00:54:37You'd rather have a horse work five furlongs than three furlongs.
00:54:40Five furlongs, at least theoretically, will display more fitness than a three furlong
00:54:44work would.
00:54:45So I think you should be encouraging a longer work that list instead of shorter ones.
00:54:50So the rule makes no sense.
00:54:51But also this is, you know, both of these instances are ones where you need common sense
00:54:57and not a guy who seems like he's looking to find people.
00:54:59Like, I think you need someone who just who has a sense of what's going on and is like,
00:55:04OK, well, that seems a little unfair.
00:55:05That seems a little unfair.
00:55:06We'll work with you and we'll maybe we'll change these rules over time.
00:55:09But in general, like that's not how gaming and racing commissions work.
00:55:13You know, it's like like you're saying, it's a very weird kind of contrast between some
00:55:18of the toothless gaming and racing commissions who don't do anything, it seems, about trainers
00:55:24who are cheating the game and cheating the public and cheating the horses.
00:55:28And then you have a guy on the other side of the country who's just like itching, itching
00:55:33to find somebody like, you know, some lower level or Frank Abel's not lower level, but
00:55:38like somebody below him who we can bully around with a fine.
00:55:41It's very, very weird.
00:55:43Yeah, I mean, again, and I'm repeating myself, but it is I'm so flabbergasted by this.
00:55:46Frank Abel had nothing to do with this, nothing at all.
00:55:51You know, and, you know, it just what, you know, it just it doesn't you want things to
00:55:59make sense.
00:56:00First of all, the rules don't make sense.
00:56:02And then how they what they do to people that in their minds violated the rules doesn't
00:56:07make any sense.
00:56:08At the end of the day, I mean, I don't think that it's incompetence.
00:56:11I really don't just think, you know, sometimes you give people a little bit of power and
00:56:14they get punch drunk with it.
00:56:16And I think that's what's happened here.
00:56:17Well, and the weird thing, too, is Braulio Baez is a Hall of Fame jockey.
00:56:21No, it's his son, Joe.
00:56:22Oh, OK.
00:56:22I was about to say even so it's from a racing background.
00:56:26You know, it's not as if this is some bureaucrat who has no connection to racing coming in
00:56:30and, you know, hyper literally interpreting the rules.
00:56:33This is a guy who knows these who should know these things.
00:56:36And it still has doesn't have enough common sense or is too power hungry to sort it out
00:56:42in the right way.
00:56:42It's bizarre.
00:56:43And also, I mean, remember the Sue Finley wrote the story of a friend of ours, the young
00:56:47man who won as a college graduate who, you know, had impeccable credentials, want to
00:56:50be a jockey agent.
00:56:51They told me he couldn't be a jockey agent because he hadn't worked on the backstretch
00:56:54beforehand.
00:56:55What?
00:56:56What does that have to do with being a jockey agent?
00:56:58And on top of that, at least half the jockey agents at Belmont didn't work on the backstretch
00:57:03before they they got in there, you know, who sits around?
00:57:06They have a vice president in charge of coming up with dumb rules.
00:57:10You know, it sort of seems like it does.
00:57:12We remember the or was it the married couple?
00:57:16That that too.
00:57:17Yeah, I mean, what?
00:57:19You know, married jockeys can't ride against one another.
00:57:21They do.
00:57:21They have to be coupled.
00:57:22You know, you just you don't even know what to say because it's just so ridiculous.
00:57:26And like, come on, you know.
00:57:29Oh, boy.
00:57:30Register for Heiser, people.
00:57:31Let's make these right away, Braulio.
00:57:33If you're listening, you can't find us, pal.
00:57:35So don't even think about it.
00:57:36We're not licensed.
00:57:37The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
00:57:40Joining a West Point Thoroughbreds can vault you into the world of instant camaraderie
00:57:44among people surrounding high class horses and stakes action for a fraction of the cost
00:57:48of trying to do it on your own.
00:57:49You can learn more at West Point TV dot com.
00:57:52We talked to Terry Finley yesterday, and I tried to kind of finagle myself into that
00:57:57world of instant camaraderie and get myself into the flight line viewing party with West
00:58:01Point, because obviously I'm super excited to see him.
00:58:04And I know we talked to Terry about where does this rank in the level of excitement
00:58:08that you're feeling going into this race compared to all the horses you've had?
00:58:12Because they've had horses in the Derby, in the Breeders' Cup.
00:58:14He said it was right at the top.
00:58:16So that's not surprising, but it's going to be great to see him this Saturday.
00:58:19And like I said, he's the horse I think most people, most racing fans are looking forward
00:58:24to on Saturday, which is why it should be on Memorial Day.
00:58:27But Terry didn't agree with me on that one.
00:58:29But West Point also had a winner at Woodbine on Sunday.
00:58:32Turned aside, was owned in partnership with our own John Green's DJ stable.
00:58:36Got back on the winning side.
00:58:37And so congrats to all the connections there.
00:58:40And it's going to be a huge, huge day on Saturday for West Point.
00:58:43Good luck to Terry and all the partners.
00:58:45They really deserve it.
00:58:46They put a ton into this game.
00:58:48They deserve to have a horse as well.
00:58:49And obviously also the other partners on the flight line as well.
00:58:51Good luck to them.
00:58:52We'll be right back after this message from West Point Thoroughbreds.
00:58:57All the thrills.
00:58:59Fraction of the bills.
00:59:03Experience the power of the partnership.
00:59:09Change your life, make new friends, and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing.
00:59:16West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
00:59:20Visit westpointtb.com.
00:59:23Being a small family business, I guess we're part of the family business.
00:59:26Being a small family business, I guess we're part of a dying breed.
00:59:29We're really grateful for the people that entrust us.
00:59:32We know it's a huge responsibility.
00:59:34We're always with your horse, every step of the way.
00:59:38When it comes to being at the sales ground, showing your horses, we are with your horse.
00:59:42Just driving up and down the road every day,
00:59:44there's not a time that I don't look out and feel a responsibility to the sport, the animal,
00:59:48the people that come to invest in the game.
00:59:50I want to see as many people enjoy this sport as they possibly can,
00:59:53because we do have the most beautiful sport in the world.
00:59:57The TDN Riders Room is brought to you by Legacy Bloodstock.
01:00:00If you think that 50 years combined experience in the horse business
01:00:03could benefit your program, give Tommy or Wendy a call.
01:00:06They personally advise on each horse as if they were their own.
01:00:09Reminder that the entry deadline for the Fasig-Tipton October sale is July 15th.
01:00:13Legacy has sold the year's number one or number two highest priced yearling by a sire
01:00:18five times at this sale, so give Tommy or Wendy a shout to talk about that.
01:00:22At this weekend, Legacy sales grads have now earned over $139 million worldwide,
01:00:28so obviously a great, great small business that can compete with the big boys
01:00:32and check them out at the upcoming yearling sales right around the corner.
01:00:41All right, so we know we've made it now in the Riders Room,
01:00:43because we have become a Remy Bullock caricature.
01:00:47I'm going to throw this up right now, and I think it's going to be in the TDN on Friday.
01:00:51It's a little bit of a computer screen, a laptop screen with me,
01:00:56John, and Bill in caricature, and then Richie, who is Rich Strike, who is, you know,
01:01:02bemoaning the fact that we gave him no chance in the Derby.
01:01:05I believe the exact words you guys used were no chance.
01:01:08That's a lie.
01:01:09We didn't mention him at all.
01:01:12No chance would have been an upgrade from our opinion of Rich Strike going into the Derby,
01:01:18so I think that he gave us a little bit too much credit,
01:01:22but shout out to Remy, because that was fun to see in my inbox last night.
01:01:26I think he's obviously great.
01:01:28And as much as Bill looks like Bill Belichick in here,
01:01:31John looks like the ghost of Christmas past,
01:01:33I think it's a pretty good approximation of us on this show, and we appreciate Remy.
01:01:39And yeah, I might print that and put it on my wall,
01:01:42because I've been looking at Remy and Peb's cartoons forever,
01:01:47so it's great to be in one.
01:01:49All right, so that's going to do it for this week's edition of the TDN Writer's Room,
01:01:52presented by Keeneland.
01:01:53Don't forget, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale begins Monday, September 12th.
01:01:57You can learn more at theworldyearlingsale.com.
01:02:00I want to thank Bill Finley, John Green, our Green Group Guest of the Week, Terry Finley,
01:02:05our producer, Patty Wolfe, our associate producer, Katie Petruniak,
01:02:08and our editors, Anthony LaRocca, Aliyah LaRocca, and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:02:11Enjoy Belmont Day, everybody.